Canadian Encyclopedia World - Deluxe Edition

COMPUTER SOFTWARE REVIEW

458 words

Title: Canadian Encyclopedia World - Deluxe Edition

Reviewer: Joan Pashley, "Owning and using this package of seven CD-ROMs
would reduce failures on those Canadian history quizzes that regularly
report a national deficit of knowledge." 

A shelf full of encyclopedia books compressed into one slim disc summarizes 
the 1999 Canadian Encyclopedia World Edition. Six more Canadian subject 
related discs round out the "deluxe" in the deluxe edition.

This really should be looked upon as a collection of seven different programs,
with different installation instructions, and even different hardware 
requirements. What ties it together is it's in-depth look at Canadian 
history from unique angles, such as Canada's Visual History, Stampville, 
Land of the Inuit and Flypast (the National Aviation Museum on your desk 
top!)

The 1999 Canadian Encyclopedia begins this journey. It would take months to 
explore it fully, but as the committee was only given weeks we focused on 
the province of British Columbia. Impressively, it even listed the 
municipality or North Saanich and the small city of Sidney. 

The articles are coded by source (Canadian, Maclean's) with links highlighted
for quick access to related topics. A 486 had trouble with speed and the
small print however the pentium managed it easily.

Stampville explores Canadian history and development from the unique angle 
of stamps. Colorful graphics and friendly formatting appealed to younger 
testers. How Canadian choice of stamp subject and design has changed over 
time captured our attention.

Flypast is an audio-visual tour of the National Aviation Museum. Through 
it, one can research the effect that aviation has had on development in 
Canada. Our senior tester (age 7) particularly enjoyed reliving a recent 
visit to the Museum.

The Land of the Inuit is a thoroughly enjoyable visit to Canada's northern 
reaches. This program entices one to examine its depth and contains enough 
detail to satisfy an adult while appealing to even our youngest tester (aged 
5)  

Although it demands a minimum Win95 and pentium processor as standard 
equipment, it would be worth the upgrade to explore this excellent CD 
produced by the Museum of Civilization.

The museum also produced, in cooperation with the National Film Board of 
Canada, Canada's Visual History. Organized in 80 volumes, each subject 
contains a series of pictures with a brief explanation of their historical 
significance. These subjects had accompanying essays for those wanting more 
detail.

For parents, this collection can provide at home access to quality research 
materials.  It has been used for home schooling but could also be used to 
supplement regular assignments even at the grade school level, for parents 
willing to provide some guidance.

In summary, the 1999 Canadian Encyclopedia Deluxe provides an in depth look 
at Canadian history from a variety of interesting points of view. Owning 
and using this package of seven CD-ROMs would reduce failures on those 
Canadian history quizzes that regularly report a national deficit of 
knowledge. 

Better yet, people would have fun doing it!